Automatic draft-coupling for agricultural machinery.



PATENTED DEC. 5, 1905.

No. 806,216. 01W. VAN'WYE. AUTOMATIC DRAFT COUPLING FOR AGRICULTURAL MAGHINERY.

' APPLICATION I'ILED'MAYJ, 1905.

CHARLES w. VAN TWYE,

PA ENT OFFICE- 01; FREEPRT, KANSAS.

AUTOMATIC DRA T-COUPLING FOR AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Dec. 5, 1905.

' Application filed May 5, 1905. Serial No. 258,999.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES W. VAN WYE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Freeport, in the county of Harper and State of.

shall be extremely simple 'in construction,

which will be positive in operation, and which can be very easily operated.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the device in a locked position with the cover removed. Fig.

2 is a similar view showing it in an unlocked pos1t1on. Fig. 3 1s a perspective view.

Corresponding and, like parts-are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings bythe same reference characters.

The draw-head 1 is provided, as usual, with a mouth 2 and throat 3 and has at the opposite end a tongue 4 for the purpose of attach' ing it to'a car. A knuckle'5 is pivoted at one side of the throat 3 and a tripping-lever 6 at the opposite side. When in the locked position, one arm 7 of the knuckle extends directly across the throat '3, while the other arm 8 extends back into the draw-head and engages a spring 9. The tripping-lever 6 has one arm 10, which passes out through an opening 11 in the side of the draw-head and lies normally along said side, while the other arm 12 makes a locking engagement with the arm 7 of the knuckle 5. The spring 9 is held in position in the rear of the draw-head by lugs 13 projecting therefrom and has its respective ends operating uponthe knuckle and trip pinglever. As seen in the drawings, one end of the spring bears upon the shoulder 14 of the tripping-lever 6, while the other end is bent back and forth within the draw-head'and bears against the arm 8 of the knuckle. Lugs 15 and 16 project inward from a face of the draw-head to limit the movementof the knuckle and tripping-lever. The couplinglink 17 used in connection with the aforedescribed draw-head is of the usual construc- When the arm 10 of the tripping-lever 6 is pulled outward, which may be accomplished, if desired, by means of a wire or small rope fastened to an opening 19 in the end thereof, the other arm 12 isthrown out of engagement with the arm 7 of the knuckle 5, and said arm 7 is swung around under the casing, and the other arm .8 of the knuckle 5 is thrown across the throat 3. Now if the pin 18 of the coupling-link 17 is forced into the throat 3 it will .engage and force inward the arm 801 the knuckle, and thus swing the arm 7 back across the throat. In so doing the arm 7 will first engage the arm 12 of the tripping-lever and force that lever around until it has passed it, when the spring 9 will cause said lever 6 to spring back into position and prevent the coupling-link 17 from forcing the knuckle around so as torelease it. By reference to the drawings it will be observed that any outward pull of the coupling-link forces the arms 7 and 12 into engagement with each other and tends toturn the tripping-lever 6 about its" pivot, which it is prevented from doing by the fact that its arm 10. lies against and is engaged by the side of the draw-head. When in a locked position, the engaging faces of the arms 7 and 12 are intended to be approximately in the circumference of a circle descibed about the pivot ofthe tripping-lever 6 as a center. This has the ad vantage that when the lever 6 is turned so as to release the coupling-link 17 there will be no movement of the arm 7 until the locking connection is completely broken. On this account a very slight pull will suffice to unlock the coupler.

It will be perfectly obvious thatif desirable a coil-spring may be placed around the attaching-tongue 4t to eliminate the sudden jerks and jars caused instarting and stopping.

' From the foregoing description it will be readily understood that I have invented a draft coupler for agricultural machinery which has manifest advantages'over those now in use. i t Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is- 1. In a-draft-coupler for agriculturalmachin'ery, the combinationof a draw-head having'a mouth and throat therein, a knuckle, one arm of which normally projects across the throat and the other ,arm of which is engaged by a spring, and a spring-actuated trippinglev'er, one arm of which passes out and lies normally against the outside of the draw-head.

2. In a draft-couplerfor agricultural machinery,.the combination of a draw-head havingamouth and throat therein, a knuckle pivoted upon one side of the throat, one arm of which normally projects across the throat and the other arm of which is engaged by a spring, a spring-actuated tripping-lever pivoted upon the other side of the throat, and a spring fastened in the rear of the draw-head, the respective ends of which are bent to engage with the knuckle and tripping-lever.

'3. In a draft-coupler for agricultural machinery, the combination of a draw-head having a mouth and throat therein, a knuckle pivoted upon one side of the throat, one arm of which normally projects across the throat and CHARLES W. VAN WYE. [1,.

Witnesses:

J. A. HAZLE, J. M. FERGUSON. 

